Punta del Este, Uruguay

Places that are described as 'exclusive resorts' do not usually appeal to me, but a few people had recommend us the beach city of Punta so we decided to pop in on our way up the coast.

Now, I don't care what anyone else says about this place, we thought it was crap. It just seemed like a playground for rich South (and North) Americans who have the money to buy apartments in the numerous tower blocks lining the beaches. Casinos and restaurant take up about 80% of the town and there isn't anything to do when the weather is bad. And you don't have a lot of money.

It has two beaches, on either side of the peninsula one on the river and one on the Atlantic, and when we arrived they were both deserted and being battered by a gale force wind which covered the whole town in sand. There didn't seem to be anyone around so we found a cheap hotel (we figured that cheap hotels were actually less expensive than hostels in Uruguay) and chilled out for a while. Watched the sun set over the huge yachts in the harbour and surveyed the hoards of spoilt teenagers running around in groups looking shiny and rich.

The next day was less windy so we headed for the beach, which was absolutely packed, and it wasn't even that warm. The sea seemed pretty dirty so I didn't go for a swim (unheard of for me).